Post by irishrover on Apr 5, 2019 15:49:40 GMT

Something about the smell of new mown grass and the sound of leather on willow. Some kind of picture of a big Test ground with 6 people waiting for the covers to move off so they can glimpse half an hour's April criket before the light goes. Some kind of vague but angsty existential statement about the game being under threat. Some kind of joke about how old Darren Stevens is etc. Season starts today - thoughts can go here. Here are some early ones.

-This a spectacularly busy cricket season-possibly the biggest English summer ever if you factor in World Cup+Ashes+ECB's desperation to market next year's Hundred at the non-existant audience of non-cricketers. The Championship will make a nice distraction from all of that hype - this is its purpose for me. A moment of calm in the endless ever more self-important rantings that makeup modern sport. It makes for a nice wholesome contrast.

-One of the most interesting underlying subplots is going to be the competition for who gets to open for England in the Ashes with plenty of Championship cricket (some actually at a decent time of year for batsmen for once) to play before then which should create plenty of opportunities to make a case. I still find it strange that Cook retired last summer rather than wait for this one but, from interviews, it really did seem like he'd decided enough was enough. But clearly that has turned 1 open slot into 2 with borderline England prospects rushing to reinvent themselves as openers. Duckett and Vince both opened in these games. I still think Lyth, Robson, Stoneman and (whisper it quietly unless it unnerves him but he has hit 100 today) Hameed could all get themselves in the frame to dislodge the encumbents if they have good summers. I think we'll be hearing a lot of this as a background hum to the early-mid season.

-My goodness the Gloucestershire squad looks terrible - I mean that is an objectively terrible collection of players. The loss of the 2 seamers to Warwickshire hurts enormously as they were covering an awful lot of cracks in a weak squad. I notice they are currently being put under pressure by Oxford University....I think they will finish bottom of the Championship.

-Season is kind of being written up as Notts and Somerset challenging Surrey for the title. Hard to argue with that really. If their seamers stay fit then that Notts team, bolstered by the usual pilfering from their neighbours, looks rock solid. I back them. Somehow I don't think I'll really believe in Somerset until they actually cross the line. I'm not sure a county side has been this consistently good for so long while winning so little. They need to shake that perception of them as chokers with a soft underbelly when it really matters.

-I always hope Hampshire go down so I'll pick them to be the one to go.

-3 coming up to be Lancs (who surely can't be as terrible as they were last year), Sussex and Leicestershire (outside bet - why not? They played well in patches last year and have an interesting young core of players supplemented by proper wiley veterens. This means they will now be awful and make me look a pillock inevitably). For some reason I'm just not really feeling Middlesex or Worcester who would be the more obvious promotion candidates.

-I'll be mainly watching Lancs again this year, which was quite a painful experience last season. Quite looking forward to seeing some different teams/players now they've been relegated. I carry no candle for Lancs but it would be nice to watch a game in which they were capable of putting together a few 50 run partnerships! Provided their batting is simply OK (and there's no excuse for it not to be on paper) then they should storm to promotion with the depth of bowling they have. Also planning to go to Chesterfield, Colwyn Bay, Northampton, Liverpool (not done that yet) and hopefully Scarborough for the first time too. Really want to get to Taunton and Bristol a few times this year if I can.

Post by warehamgas on Apr 5, 2019 21:15:55 GMT

Well done Irish starting the thread. Don’t know about the smell of newly mown grass more like the pitter patter of rain coming down this morning! Today at Taunton we stood around talking before giving up at about 12.45. Yes it’s going to be a good summer with lots of good cricket. Might be a slow starter though with tests not starting until late July. Looking forward to the World Cup, it could be a very open competition. I think we’ll probably mess up as we usually do but we do have the best team so we should do well. Australia will come good and I have a fear that David Warner will want to prove a point. India will always be up there. We will see.As to the Ashes, James Vince is opening for Hampshire in a bid to get a place in the England team. Having seen a lot of the Big Bash when in Oz in January I thought he was the best overall batsmen and he does ooze class so I would like to see him being successful and if he’s playing for England he can’t play for Hampshire. Who will win the Championship? Last year I thought Hampshire and Lancs were in with a chance, how wrong was I? This year I can’t see beyond Surrey who will do very well again. Their squad is very strong and they seem to have an unending supply of quality younger players who when mixed with the experience they have will make sure they are the team to beat. Lots of people are talking up Nottinghamshire but having seen a lot of them over the past 4/5 years I always see them in collapse mode. Somerset will flatter to deceive by season’s end. We appear to have a very good bowling attack. Our spinners are as good as anyone’s, Surrey’s included and our pace bowlers with Jack Brooks will take wickets in most conditions. But I think we will be a batsman short of being a championship winning side. That being said it does give one of our youngsters a chance to grab a batting spot, they’re up for grabs. What will be interesting about Somerset is that James Hildreth is going to bat at No.3 instead of 4. To be fair irish in the Championship we haven’t been chokers, in the one day competitions you are right we have choked. The last three seasons we have had tremendous ends to the season. One when Yorkshire and Middlesex took it away from us when we came from nowhere to challenge in September. The season before last we came from being relegated to save ourselves in September and last season we were always going to be second to Surrey. Either way I don’t think we’ll beat Surrey.I think Kent may well struggle to stay up esp without Milnes and Billings early on. They may find themselves bottom early on and struggle. Although Warwickshire without Bell and Trott may struggle for runs. It’s good that only one club is going down it should make for better cricket, more adventurous cricket even if it’s a less exciting September at 5he bottom.In Division 2 with 3 coming up it could be the more exciting place. Lancashire will come back up along with Middlesex. I hope Sussex do it as well but I’m not sure. Leicestershire and Durham could be longshots but you’re right about the Gloucestershire squad. It looks poor. With Miles and Norwell gone and no obvious replacements they won’t worry the top of the table and I hope they avoid the bottom.“The Hundred” will have a lot of publicity and this week our CEO and those of Gloucestershire and Glamorgan met up to discuss what may happen to the Cardiff franchise and how we and Gloucestershire fit into it. Do you know how it works? Bit like Brexit really, nobody knows what will happen. They won’t be regional sides surely. They will be open franchises with Manchester and Leeds all able to bid for Somerset players who put themselves forward. Or am I wrong? Wait and see I suppose.

Anyway hopefully cricket for me on Sunday and Monday for the last two days of the Kent match. And a nervous watch of the Internet for Rovers at Coventry! Tomorrow Bournemouth v Burnley.

Post by jackthegas on Apr 8, 2019 13:14:40 GMT

Norwell hasn’t played much over the last couple of years so I am not sure he will be that big a miss. Craig Miles on the other hand is a frustrating one. He was a bit hit and miss last year as you’d expect from a player still learning his trade. My guess would be that he is on the cusp of discovering some consistency though. When a county loses a player like Gidman or Kirby after seasons of consistent performances you kind of think that’s far enough but it is frustrating when you lose a youngster who isn’t likely to develop into anything other than a good County pro before he has really produced consistently over a period of time. The batting looks inexperienced but not completely lacking in talent. You could live with a few years of inconsistency if there was any prospect of the likes of Bracey sticking around should they develop into a good player. So yes, in short, I would think bottom 3 in the Championship is certainly on the cards this year.

You have to say, the strategy of Gloucestershire, Glamorgan and Durham to invest in their facilities in the hope of hosting international cricket has left all three Counties in a pretty desperate state. All the more so for Glos and Durham who have both missed out on hosting a side in the new competition next year. At least Durham had a few golden years before it all went wrong! Gloucester have been dreadful since the redevelopment was first proposed. Perhaps the strategy has paid off for Hampshire, all be it they have a very rich Chairman bankrolling the County.

There must be 20 batsmen who could conceivably find themselves in the England top 3 for the First Ashes test. At this stage I think the Burns and Roy are likely to feature but so much depends on who does what in the next couple of months. As always, the problem is that some of the better options (including but not limited to Clarke, Pope and Foakes) are better suited to 4 or lower.

The combined East Midlands XI aka Notts have a disappointingly strong squad. I heard an interesting interview with Ben Duckett last week. He basically said that after he toured with the Test side Graham Thorpe suggested that he might like to try developing a trigger, which, quite naturally, he did. The consequence was that he pretty much failed to score a run last year. As batsmen often seem to do he has gone back to his original technique which basically sees him stand still and try and hit the ball. I suspect the upshot is that he will score plenty of runs for Notts but maybe might find his technique against spin stops him having a successful international career.

Given the stuff that was doing the rounds about Joe Clarke during the Alex Hepburn trial I wonder whether moving away from Worcester might not be a bad thing for his development. I also wonder whether England might consider that he has too much baggage to make the side this summer. The pitches at New Road are pretty results orientated; I think they are better at Trent Bridge so that may work in Clarke’s favour. Notts also have a plethora of seem bowlers (Luke Wood would make a decent reserve at almost all other Counties but he is nowhere near their squad and has gone on loan to Northants). It would be nice if they could develop some of their own players – but there we go.

So I think Surrey or Notts will win the league. Surrey might just nick it as I think they have a better spin bowling attack. Kent will go down (although I backed them to get promoted for 3 years – until last year when I think I gave up hope and of course, they were promoted) but I think Yorkshire will struggle too. Not enough depth in the bowling department and a batting unit that has struggled for consistency over the last couple of years. Warwickshire need a couple of their (mainly pilfered) young batsmen to step up too. Sam Hain is a top order batsman who I thought would play for England but he seems to have kicked on in List A cricket and stalled in the red ball stuff.

I like Somerset’s bowling depth and Azhar Ali looks like a good signing but I always feel that Somerset have the odd low score in them.

Middlesex and Lancashire should get promoted but that’s often not how it works. A side gets on a role early on and then before you know if half the season has gone. The fixture list is a bit different this year though so maybe that won’t be the case this year. I know Northants have lost players but Wood and Holder are good early season signings and they could do well if they can score enough runs.

I have seen plenty of Worcester over the last couple of years. I have to confess, unlike Irish, I have definitely got an affinity with my adopted home County. New Road is a lovely place to spend a day and the proliferation of home grown players makes it really fascinating to see their development season on season. I promise I won’t go on too much (because I appreciate there can only be very limited interest in a non – west country County on a Bristol Rovers forum!) but Worcester have a really exciting bowling attack. Leach is really underrated but has a fabulous record over the last few years and Tongue will probably be the next Worcester cricketer to move to Notts or Warwickshire. Both missed large parts of last season but I expect them to make an impact this year. Pennington, Barnard and Brown are also a year older (Barnard is already pretty close to the finished article with both bat and ball and Pennington is probably the most promising of the lot, although his body language is a bit flat at times). Parnell looks like an astute signing to me. Much better than Magoffin anyway who was past his best and didn’t really have the pace to compliment Leach and Barnard who are certain starters.

They will miss Joe Clarke but signings Callum Ferguson and Wessels could go some way to replacing his runs (although I am not sure whether Ferguson is playing First Class cricket). They will need the likes of Fell, Cox and D’Oliveira to score more runs than they managed last season if they are going to get promoted and if spin does play a larger part this year due to the schedule they will need Twohig to step up too. It will also be interesting to see how Alex Gidman gets on as head coach.

I know Sussex have been heavily backed but I don’t think they will see much of Archer this year. They look better suited to List A cricket to me.

As a footnote – it’s been a good mornings cricket at Taunton. Gregory in the wickets again. He's another cricketer I rate really highly. Both he and Brooks are great county pros and ideally for Somerset, both are just a notch below international quality and so are omnipresent.

Post by warehamgas on Apr 8, 2019 21:06:19 GMT

Well you were right jack about Somerset having a low score in them, they always have done. Watched the last two days in Taunton and whilst you could criticise the batting it really was a compelling two days where the balance of the game swung backwards and forwards. And a good crowd in today esp for the last day of the match. Yesterday morning Kent only needed to bat sensibly to get a good first innings lead but Somerset bowled well to contain them to a 40 run lead and when we batted we were very poor and had lost 4 wickets before we were in the plus runs area. Match well and truly lost and losing 3 more wickets meant we were effectively 70-7. But our last three wickets wagged and a last wicket stand of 60 meant that Kent were chasing over 200. We were on a roll and Kent never recovered from losing a wicket first ball and being 1-2. We won’t win the championship but we can turn seemingly hopeless situations into a win and our attack is as good as any. We turned a losing situation into a win and Nottinghamshire couldn’t (though we didn’t have a batsman like Root to get out) do that when they should have done esp on the Trent Bridge wicket. Next match we go there so could be interesting.

I can’t see too far beyond Surrey to be champions but a great start for Hampshire who, apparently, got their first haul of 5 batting points since 2016, quite a telling stat. If James Vince and Sam Northeast have good starts and Abbott and Fidel Edwards can produce the goods they can be a very good team though I don’t think they have Surrey’s depth if test match calls occur. Kent will be disappointed to have been in a winning position yet lose by a relatively large margin and it may come back to haunt them. I was wrong earlier when I said Milnes was at the IPL, he played in this match. I should have said Joe Denley and tbh they needed him today when it started to go wrong. Stevens did well but a Joe Denley type character would have helped them steady the match when 44-5.

What will be good to see is the test match players playing in the early Championship matches. It will help the competition and keep the players in form or at least playing. And the fact that Broad was bowling seriously enough to hit Joe Root on his helmet today can only be a good sign of intent to bowl and bat well and take the competition seriously.

Post by chewbacca on Apr 15, 2019 11:59:56 GMT

Shire's issue at the moment as shown up this weekend is a lack of fit bowlers. We were without Whittingham, Worrall and Payne this weekend and it certainly showed second innings. I'm reasonably happy with the batting lineup, we just have to make sure players convert starts of 30 into 50's and 100's. Too many players got starts without going on. Once we have some fit bowlers I think we'll be alright, Whittingham is a speed freak so it'll be interesting to see how he does on Bristol's slow pitch.

Post by warehamgas on Apr 15, 2019 12:25:17 GMT

Gloucestershire did well to get 350 with the runs shared around. Good to see Roderick get runs and Higgins is a genuine all rounder. Don’t know the ins and out of the squad but if they can keep posting 300+ in division 2 they’ll win more than they lose. And it would be good to see them put in a genuine challenge but they do look more suited to one day success. But if they had injured bowlers against Derbyshire then they did ok. With it being such a long season they will need a big and fit squad but with the season cut into championship and one day chunks they may just need to manage their players’ fitness.

Post by chewbacca on Apr 15, 2019 13:57:35 GMT

Quite looking forward to seeing how we get on in the one day stuff this year, should be good for a couple of bowlers to get their fitness back. Real shame they're pieing it off for this 100 ball s***e next summer.

Post by warehamgas on Apr 17, 2019 15:56:42 GMT

Quite looking forward to seeing how we get on in the one day stuff this year, should be good for a couple of bowlers to get their fitness back. Real shame they're pieing it off for this 100 ball s***e next summer.

Well you got your answer there! Great performance from Gloucestershire, to beat a team like Surrey with all their one day stars. Looks like Chris Liddle had a good day. Now they’ve got to keep it up.

Post by pirate49 on Apr 17, 2019 17:52:37 GMT

What a great result today. I'd hoped to get along but recent surgery put a stop to that.Beating Surrey is always that little bit sweeter. There's always a bit of edge.Anyone remember that confrontation between Mark Hardinges (?) and one of their playersas they left the pitch a few years back? Would have loved to have seen Batty's face at the end!Well done Glos!!

Post by warehamgas on Apr 29, 2019 20:31:13 GMT

Post by irishrover on May 2, 2019 23:01:51 GMT

Been away so just catching up. But a few comments;

-Looks like Jack's take on Glos has, unsurprisingly, been more accurate than mine. I feel a bit out of touch with it to be honest these days but it's nice to see them fighting hard. Still not sure they can get in Championship Promotion hunt but it seems there is more in the tank than I thought.

-Somerset came flying out of the Championship blocks, took that form in the One Day competition and then seem to have stumbled just a bit at the last which looks like it might yet prevent them getting into the knock out stage. Would like one the 2 to make it through the group though. That Trego-Ali partnership on the TV was tremendous. The Overseas Amateur at my club this year is from South Africa and I had to explain to him the concept of 'Peter Trego' which was quite fun.

-I had to turn down tickets to the Roses match at Leeds, which might have been the most exciting domestic game of the season so far. So a bit annoyed about that. Lancs have looked decent though. Saqib Mahmood the revelation. He's been tipped to have a big breakthrough for a while but fitness/competition for places has held him back. OK he benefited from seriously helpful early season conditions (and some pretty average opposition frankly) for those back to back 5 fors vs Northants and Leicester but there is talent. Not inconceivable he could get himself in the frame for England in the future. In Mahmood and Bailey Lancs have 2 top seam prospects.

-Last thing is a bit of a weird one. I've generally seen pretty underwhelming cricket so far this year but I saw the last session of Day 2 (I think) of the Glam v Northants game. I saw Carlsson hit a century in a session which is a fairly rare and impressive event especially for such a young player. It was a proper assurred stroke making innings as well, not a slog fest. I was thinking 'wow what a prospect'....And then again maybe not so much given that pretty much everyone who batted in that ludicrous run fest went on to score 100!

Post by warehamgas on May 3, 2019 22:07:17 GMT

Cricket is going to be dominated by Jofra Archer, Alex Hales, the World Cup and the Ashes and esp the reintroduction of Warner and Smith once the cricket starts. But so far: I’ve seen two matches so far, obviously both Somerset. In the Kent match I was impressed by the Kent team who would have been upset to have lost the match as they had had it won on two occasions over the three days of play we had. Ollie Robinson the young wicket keeper impressed with some handy keeping and he s scored some runs. Looks like another good keeper off the Kent conveyor belt of keepers and another good one who’s English. The openers Crawley and Dickson looked good and have score runs since so my prediction that they would struggle might not be accurate but after only two championship matches it’s too early to say really. But already Warwickshire look as if they will find it hard to score runs. Losing Trott and Bell due to injury leaves some huge gaps at 3 and 4.

The Essex match was brilliant if you’re a Somerset fan not so much if you came from Essex. Their bowlers didn’t know where to bowl to Trego and it was explosive. Azhar Ali just batted well in a conventional way and kept the rate going. Although I didn’t see the Gloucestershire match it just goes to show that on any day anyone can beat anyone. I’m not sure over a season if any Gloucestershire player would get a place in the Surrey team or the Somerset team but over a one day match they were able to beat both teams. Taylor and Higgins are both very good players and if they hit form could take Gloucestershire through. But it’s the lack of consistency that will probably do them in the end.

The Alex Hales incident has been very strange. When I saw his comments about two or three weeks ago about players all deserving a second chance I thought it was an odd comment considering his night out with Ben Stokes was over a year ago. Now it looks like he was preparing the ground for the news which still hasn’t really come out about him. When I heard about him being dropped for disciplinary reasons it all made sense. Eoin Morgan feels very strongly about it and gave a different account to that of Ashley Giles about the reasons he was dropped. Morgan feels let down and appeared quite angry with Hales. It’s going to be difficult for Hales to come back into a Morgan led team imo. Mileage still in this I suspect even though England will hope by acting decisively they will have dealt with it. I liked Simon Hughes’ comments about players having too much time on their hands if they only have white ball contracts. The same could be argued for just red ball contracts as well I suppose. With the way the schedule is organised now players are going to be sat around doing very little if they only have white ball contracts for big chunks of the summer. There will only be so much practice they can do. Likewise if they have just red ball contracts there will be little cricket in May, June and August. I really wonder if we will see Hales sign a red ball contract at Nottinghamshire within the next few weeks knowing he has to be playing cricket, any cricket.

Surrey haven’t exactly set 5he world on fire with their cricket this year and are out of the RLCup already. Pope out for the season, Roy injured is going to test them to the limit. Hampshire have started well and look strong to retain the RL cup. Be interesting to see how they do without Vince. But they have signed good players and money doesn’t seem a problem. We’ll know mor3 about Somerset’s chances in the Championship after the next 4 day match, Surrey! Win that I might even dream of success but we’re Somerset so reality might take over.

You must have had a bit of cricket Irish with the relatively dry weather. What’s it like up there?

Post by irishrover on May 22, 2019 12:40:47 GMT

Cricket is going to be dominated by Jofra Archer, Alex Hales, the World Cup and the Ashes and esp the reintroduction of Warner and Smith once the cricket starts. But so far: I’ve seen two matches so far, obviously both Somerset. In the Kent match I was impressed by the Kent team who would have been upset to have lost the match as they had had it won on two occasions over the three days of play we had. Ollie Robinson the young wicket keeper impressed with some handy keeping and he s scored some runs. Looks like another good keeper off the Kent conveyor belt of keepers and another good one who’s English. The openers Crawley and Dickson looked good and have score runs since so my prediction that they would struggle might not be accurate but after only two championship matches it’s too early to say really. But already Warwickshire look as if they will find it hard to score runs. Losing Trott and Bell due to injury leaves some huge gaps at 3 and 4.

The Essex match was brilliant if you’re a Somerset fan not so much if you came from Essex. Their bowlers didn’t know where to bowl to Trego and it was explosive. Azhar Ali just batted well in a conventional way and kept the rate going. Although I didn’t see the Gloucestershire match it just goes to show that on any day anyone can beat anyone. I’m not sure over a season if any Gloucestershire player would get a place in the Surrey team or the Somerset team but over a one day match they were able to beat both teams. Taylor and Higgins are both very good players and if they hit form could take Gloucestershire through. But it’s the lack of consistency that will probably do them in the end.

The Alex Hales incident has been very strange. When I saw his comments about two or three weeks ago about players all deserving a second chance I thought it was an odd comment considering his night out with Ben Stokes was over a year ago. Now it looks like he was preparing the ground for the news which still hasn’t really come out about him. When I heard about him being dropped for disciplinary reasons it all made sense. Eoin Morgan feels very strongly about it and gave a different account to that of Ashley Giles about the reasons he was dropped. Morgan feels let down and appeared quite angry with Hales. It’s going to be difficult for Hales to come back into a Morgan led team imo. Mileage still in this I suspect even though England will hope by acting decisively they will have dealt with it. I liked Simon Hughes’ comments about players having too much time on their hands if they only have white ball contracts. The same could be argued for just red ball contracts as well I suppose. With the way the schedule is organised now players are going to be sat around doing very little if they only have white ball contracts for big chunks of the summer. There will only be so much practice they can do. Likewise if they have just red ball contracts there will be little cricket in May, June and August. I really wonder if we will see Hales sign a red ball contract at Nottinghamshire within the next few weeks knowing he has to be playing cricket, any cricket.

Surrey haven’t exactly set 5he world on fire with their cricket this year and are out of the RLCup already. Pope out for the season, Roy injured is going to test them to the limit. Hampshire have started well and look strong to retain the RL cup. Be interesting to see how they do without Vince. But they have signed good players and money doesn’t seem a problem. We’ll know mor3 about Somerset’s chances in the Championship after the next 4 day match, Surrey! Win that I might even dream of success but we’re Somerset so reality might take over.

You must have had a bit of cricket Irish with the relatively dry weather. What’s it like up there?

Sorry - I was away for a bit so missed this.

Yes, so far Manchester weather has not intervened. Annoyingly I'm missing this Lancs-Worcs game, which looks like the best of the year so far in these parts. Could still go either way as Lancs batting wobbles have returned with avengence.

I'm not normally a fan of sporting bans for recreational drug use as there's an element of hypocrisy about it but it's very hard to have any sympathy for Hales. You do wonder if there's a brain in there to be honest. I've met a few people who have known him and the general perception seemed to be that - very good cricketer but completely clueless about everything else.

I think that Surrey draw may well prove an excellent result for Somerset come the end of the season and note they are back to winning ways v Warwcks. Even bigger win for Glos. I'm quite tempted by the Lancs game at Cheltenham actually could be a better contest than many might think. Be fun to watch Anderson play there if he's available. If they can get themselves in that promotion race then Glos have a slight advantage handed to them by the assymetric fixture list in that they are only playing Lancs the once.

Post by warehamgas on May 29, 2019 19:53:37 GMT

Well, I will say it. Well done Somerset well-deserved one day champions. From ball one it was never in doubt. But what a complete cock up from the ECB and probably Hampshire themselves. How on earth do the ECB or whoever timetable an England friendly at the home ground of one of the finalists and include two of the players who should be at Lords? Shows total disrespect to the competition, the fans, Hampshire CCC, the sponsors and anyone else you want to include. Hampshire should have known in World Cup year that they were vulnerable to losing Vince, Dawson and even Crane but it appeared they had no back up plans for the loss of two of them. Don’t they have a second xi ? Berg always does well against us but usually at No. 8 or No. 9 never at No. 6. They went with an extra, or even two, bowlers and then won the toss and decided to bat. Why have Markham and Rehane as their overseas players and know that whatever they would not be able to play in a final? Madness. I bet the Hampshire fans, those who were there, were livid. I think most of them must have realised and went to the Rise Bowl instead. There were few at Lords. They were never in it.But in the end I don’t care. Our home grown players, all 8 of them, stepped up to the mark and fully deserved to win. It’s always interesting seeing teams with very different team building policies in a final competing. After all our second positions, 10 apparently since we last won anything, it was good to get over the line at last. Now can we keep our nerve and hold onto top spot in the Championship? That would be something special.

Post by warehamgas on May 29, 2019 19:59:03 GMT

Cricket is going to be dominated by Jofra Archer, Alex Hales, the World Cup and the Ashes and esp the reintroduction of Warner and Smith once the cricket starts. But so far: I’ve seen two matches so far, obviously both Somerset. In the Kent match I was impressed by the Kent team who would have been upset to have lost the match as they had had it won on two occasions over the three days of play we had. Ollie Robinson the young wicket keeper impressed with some handy keeping and he s scored some runs. Looks like another good keeper off the Kent conveyor belt of keepers and another good one who’s English. The openers Crawley and Dickson looked good and have score runs since so my prediction that they would struggle might not be accurate but after only two championship matches it’s too early to say really. But already Warwickshire look as if they will find it hard to score runs. Losing Trott and Bell due to injury leaves some huge gaps at 3 and 4.

The Essex match was brilliant if you’re a Somerset fan not so much if you came from Essex. Their bowlers didn’t know where to bowl to Trego and it was explosive. Azhar Ali just batted well in a conventional way and kept the rate going. Although I didn’t see the Gloucestershire match it just goes to show that on any day anyone can beat anyone. I’m not sure over a season if any Gloucestershire player would get a place in the Surrey team or the Somerset team but over a one day match they were able to beat both teams. Taylor and Higgins are both very good players and if they hit form could take Gloucestershire through. But it’s the lack of consistency that will probably do them in the end.

The Alex Hales incident has been very strange. When I saw his comments about two or three weeks ago about players all deserving a second chance I thought it was an odd comment considering his night out with Ben Stokes was over a year ago. Now it looks like he was preparing the ground for the news which still hasn’t really come out about him. When I heard about him being dropped for disciplinary reasons it all made sense. Eoin Morgan feels very strongly about it and gave a different account to that of Ashley Giles about the reasons he was dropped. Morgan feels let down and appeared quite angry with Hales. It’s going to be difficult for Hales to come back into a Morgan led team imo. Mileage still in this I suspect even though England will hope by acting decisively they will have dealt with it. I liked Simon Hughes’ comments about players having too much time on their hands if they only have white ball contracts. The same could be argued for just red ball contracts as well I suppose. With the way the schedule is organised now players are going to be sat around doing very little if they only have white ball contracts for big chunks of the summer. There will only be so much practice they can do. Likewise if they have just red ball contracts there will be little cricket in May, June and August. I really wonder if we will see Hales sign a red ball contract at Nottinghamshire within the next few weeks knowing he has to be playing cricket, any cricket.

Surrey haven’t exactly set 5he world on fire with their cricket this year and are out of the RLCup already. Pope out for the season, Roy injured is going to test them to the limit. Hampshire have started well and look strong to retain the RL cup. Be interesting to see how they do without Vince. But they have signed good players and money doesn’t seem a problem. We’ll know mor3 about Somerset’s chances in the Championship after the next 4 day match, Surrey! Win that I might even dream of success but we’re Somerset so reality might take over.

You must have had a bit of cricket Irish with the relatively dry weather. What’s it like up there?

Sorry - I was away for a bit so missed this.

Yes, so far Manchester weather has not intervened. Annoyingly I'm missing this Lancs-Worcs game, which looks like the best of the year so far in these parts. Could still go either way as Lancs batting wobbles have returned with avengence.

I'm not normally a fan of sporting bans for recreational drug use as there's an element of hypocrisy about it but it's very hard to have any sympathy for Hales. You do wonder if there's a brain in there to be honest. I've met a few people who have known him and the general perception seemed to be that - very good cricketer but completely clueless about everything else.

I think that Surrey draw may well prove an excellent result for Somerset come the end of the season and note they are back to winning ways v Warwcks. Even bigger win for Glos. I'm quite tempted by the Lancs game at Cheltenham actually could be a better contest than many might think. Be fun to watch Anderson play there if he's available. If they can get themselves in that promotion race then Glos have a slight advantage handed to them by the assymetric fixture list in that they are only playing Lancs the once.

Shame about the weather and other things spoiling the Gloucestershire v Lancs match. After day 1 it looked like a result but losing the two days will make it difficult to get a result now. It was boiling up to be a very good match.